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Posted April 27, 2013 10:26 pm - Updated January 22, 2016 03:18 pm

City revitalization: In everyone's interest

IF SAVANNAH genuinely believes in revitalizing stagnant neighborhoods — and it should — then it needs to find a reasonable and responsible way to accommodate those who wish to put their money where their mouths are.

Otherwise, the discussions about neighborhood revitalization are mostly gum-flapping. At some point, talk must be followed by action.

An excellent case in point is a plan from Christ Church Anglican. It wants to shoehorn a new sanctuary and parish house into a space at the northeast corner of Drayton and 37th streets to serve its 300-member congregation.

Unfortunately, it’s not the easiest or most comfortable fit.

The city’s existing plan for that area — a mix of private homes, large-scale institutions like the Bull Street Library and Sisters Court Apartments and businesses like Elizabeth’s on 37th, which is right across the street — doesn’t allow the church to get everything it says it needs in the way of parking, height and mass. So it has to get variances from city government to move forward — which it’s in the process of doing.

In the meantime, some neighbors complain that the church would upset the existing balance of residential and non-residential uses. Longtime neighborhood activist Virginia Mobley argued against the variances two months ago in a letter to the editor. She said that considerable effort was put into the existing plan to make it “a place where families wanted to live and grow, yet have the small businesses for daily living.”

That’s why this controversy is a good problem to have.

Instead of fleeing the urban environment, here’s a group that wants to bring its flock into the middle of it, saying that it’s historically and culturally a city church. At the same time, those who are already in the neighborhood don’t want to ruin what they have.

Thus it was no surprise that last Thursday’s hearing before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals featured some unbrotherly animosity. It could continue. Going forward, the project faces additional review by the staff of the Metropolitan Planning Commission and Savannah city manager’s office.

This is a situation that screams for compromise. The church may have to give a little, in terms of the proposed size of its buildings, to get a little in the way of good will. Its design must be compatible with the surroundings as well.

At the same time, its potential neighbors must avoid the drawbridge mentality. A church that’s mostly used on Sundays and perhaps on an evening or two during the week shouldn’t cause mass disruption. It’s not a library or a college building with classrooms. And who knows? Maybe some of those 300 churchgoers might decide to live closer to where they worship or patronize nearby businesses.